GEORGE BELLOWS
Indoor Athlete, Second Stone.
Lithograph on thin cream wove paper, 1921. 130x228 mm; 5¼x9 inches, wide margins. Edition of 20. Signed in pencil, lower right, and signed by the printer, Bolton Brown, in pencil, lower left. A very good impression of this scarce lithograph. A very good impression.Bellows (1882-1925) was part of the second generation of Aschan School artists. Born in Columbus, Ohio he worked as a commercial illustrator as a student at The Ohio State University from 1901-04. After Ohio State, he moved to New York where he studied with Robert Henri and soon became associated with the Aschan artists. He depicted scenes of everyday life in New York that were rooted in realism. He started making lithographs in 1916 and revived interest in the medium as at the time etching was the preferred printmaking method. Lithography gave him a steady stream of income to provide for his family and also grew his popularity as an artist.In a letter to Bellows in 1920, the artist Robert Henri wrote: "I am avoiding the National Arts billiard room because I do not think it fair to myself to destroy my health by playing in that air before you come. I will reserve all my vigor to use up on playing with you." Mason 82.